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Final Blog

The single greatest aspect of this course was its ability to convey the core academic messages within the context of real-world scenarios. Andy has done a terrific job planning and executing a curriculum that incorporates theory and practical advice into every topic addressed throughout the entire quarter. Prior to this course, I had not had access to the volume, diversity or quality of entrepreneurs who were kind enough to participate in our weekly speaker panels. The differences and commonalities in their experiences and lessons learned were fascinating. Evaluating startups through a marketing lens was also a unique experience, and the learning about the level of detail involved in every stage of the process was eye-opening. This class was vital to helping me understand the importance of a well-planned, linear, and measureable marketing strategy.

This course revealed a plethora of online, publicly available resources any entrepreneur can, and should, use when building a marketing strategy. In fact, a key takeaway was the accessibility and supportiveness of the Seattle entrepreneurial community. It became clear that many startup communities around the country do not share this general attitude, and it would behoove any fledgling entrepreneurs coming out of this class to leverage that to the fullest. Generally speaking, I learned a great deal about customer acquisition, retention, and referral, especially in regard to the online mechanisms through which each can be achieved. My background is no in tech, and so SEO and other online techniques were all brand new to me. Accordingly, the entire course was a rich and interesting learning experience for me, and I would encourage anybody interested in learning how to market a startup to make enrolling in this course a priority.